Hi there everyone and a Happy New Year 2020. I am making this post the last one of 2019. Can't believe this year has passed by so quickly. Now I know why my mother always said to me, "don't wish your life away, Louise, it will go fast enough!" Now I know what she meant.
Following are some pictures from 2019. You will have to forgive me, for in 2019 I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. Once you see one snow picture, you've pretty much seen them all, unless you are in a different place. For Louise, that was not the case. We stayed pretty much put in one place, home.
So go grab a cup of coffee, tea, or pepsi, cause this will be a long post.
So I guess there was snow in January and February (didn't mark on my calendar or take pictures.) Along with the snow came a lot of changes, as you can see with the butterfly above. Butterflies change from the cocoon to beautiful butterflies....maybe we do too.
January brought financial assistance in the way of food from the Salvation Army and Energy Assistance. Along with disconnections of AT&T Phone/internet and TV. It was costing way too much. House taxes were due too. Signed up with Spectrum, what a hassle between the two companies, honestly.
February started out with a bang....our car would not start. Battery died and there was lots of snow. The one glimmer of fun I had was watching my Chicago Blackhawks on TV and the internet. And, making my cards.
March seemed to be going well, things were calm and quiet (as my mother would always say). Then Kylie got sick and I took her to the Vet. Xrays and blood work. She had a mass and they didn't give her good news. Just love her and keep her happy with lots of walks, hugs and kisses. Then the car broke down.....again!!!
April brought Dr's appointments for JP and I. Tax refund and Co-pays and bills due. Does it ever end? Nope, not till we die or get raptured. The water was shut off a couple of times during April so the City could rip up our street for sewers and laterals. The street will be a mess like this in 2020 also. In the mean time, we have a bill of $1500 to pay up in the next 5 years that will be added to our house taxes for this mess.
May brought more Dr's appointments again....never ending when we get older. Netflex got cancelled...which now I find is actually a blessing. Saving $$ for one thing, and also not so much time watching movies...oh because there is hockey till June at least. Got a couple of Aflac refunds for our Dr's bills. That helped a lot.
June brought vegetable and flower seed plantings. Vitamin B-12 shots for Louise and a mammogram and the last grooming for Kylie. My favorite store closed....Shopko.
July, my eyes started itching, took some allergy pills, least the mosquito's did now bite me to death. That very sad day arrived on the 12th, we had to put Kylie down. I lost my best little friend. A very hard day, it got so bad, I had to carry her outside to go tinkle and potty, and carry her back in. Kylie was blind and partially hard of hearing. The treats stopped a couple of days before she died, she wasn't interested in them any more and she had a couple of seizures. The last seizure was that day....it lasted much too long and she did not know where she was. Broke my heart. The hardest thing was calling the Vet and taking her in. We buried her in the back yard.....it's been 5 1/2 months now, and I still miss her.
August, tending to flowers and vegetables. Sort of just going through the motions of living. Kylie's death knocked the stuffing out of me...still miss her terribly. JP and I celebrated 46 years of marriage. We did nothing special.
September. This beautiful Fall Clematis starts blooming, it looks like a blanket of snow. There were a couple of Dr. appointments for both of us. I ordered a Blackhawk hat and JP's brother and SIL came for a visit and brought me a Chicago Blackhawk flag.
October, The Hawks started their season October 4th. Let the games begin!!! Mary and I started working on getting a cookbook put together. The two below were books I put together in '84 for the church I was going to. In '95 another cookbook for the Salvation Army. So I said to Mary, why don't we put a Fundcraft Cookbook together to raise funds for Josh's Scholarship Fund and off we went. When it is all said and done, we should have raised $2500 profit for the fund. She collected recipes from friends and family and friends of Josh's. I started typing, typing and more typing into the programs that Fundcraft had set up. Oh and also along the way, I was making cards for Hospice. So between typing, card making, watching the Blackhawks....was very busy.
November, Birthday month....yep, turned 73 and had to get my license renewed for another 7 years. I will be 80, will I make it to that age....I don't know. Dr. appointment for my A1C...too low, 6.2, Dr. wants me to go back up to 7.0, so he cut down one pill. Colored my hair and cut it too. Yeah, I do that every now and then. The grey was getting TOO GREY!!! We never did get all the leaves raked up because we had a snow storm, going to be a mess in the spring. Hockey games through out November and I still miss my Kylie.
December, here we are, the last month of the year. Put up the Christmas tree, ornaments and village. $60 came in the mail from Aflac...bonus from all our Dr. appointments. Hospice at Denny's and they bought us card makers breakfast. Lots of Hockey games...Hawks aren't doing so good, but I have high hopes for the last half of the season....they just could make it to the playoffs, b/c we have two great goalies. We will see, time will tell. I signed up for Energy Assistance again, 2 months will be paid, hopefully January and February, 2020. That will help. Still typing recipes and getting the book organized. We will probably send the book in the end of January, I should be done with recipes and organizing and such. We will have about 275 recipes, give or take.
So, today is the 31st. Nothing is planned. I will put some herring, cheese and crackers out, maybe some pickles and salami too. There is a hockey game at 8pm Blackhawks and Calgary tonight…..so you know what I will be doing. After the game I will watch the New Year come in New York and watch the ball come down.
Time to close this post....if you are still with me, I applaud you, such a good friend. You have a great new year. May 2020 be your best year yet. May you live with Jesus on your mind and in your heart. Keep looking up, better days are coming.
Cheers and blessings ~ Louise
PS...this post will take 17 minutes to read, give or take a few. That's how long it took me read and do a few corrections. See ya!!!
Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good week. October is kind of exciting for me....I need some excitement in my life!!! The Hockey season has started. Tomorrow the Chicago Blackhawks have their first home game of the season, with 7 games being played at the United Center. Hopefully the Hawks will win all of those games....starting the season off with a bang!!!
The Pastor's wife and I are putting together a cookbook to raise funds for her son's scholarship in support of the Hilbert High School Football and Chilton Hilbert Wrestling. Josh was killed in a car accident 3 years ago. Mary has been working diligently on raising funds for his scholarships. So far, one young man has been helped through the scholarship fund set up for Josh.
At this point we are just collecting recipes, hoping for 200 at the end of this adventure. That hopefully will bring a $2,500 profit. As the recipes come in, I will be typing them into the program Fundcraft has set up. Things sure have changed since I last did these two cookbooks above....my goodness. The Abundant Life Assembly of God cookbook was put together in 1984 and The Salvation Army cookbook was put together in 1995. I still use both cookbooks to this day. It's always fun to look at the different recipes and remember the person who submitted that recipe.
Hopefully we will get the cookbook done by Christmas, so they can go out as Christmas gifts. Mary has a couple of other fund raisers in the planning stages. A Fishing Banquet, Josh loved to fish. And a "Family Feud" fund raiser at the Bowling Alley. Also included is the Annual Fund Raiser in September....that's the big one. Hopefully there will be cookbooks at all these events.
In these next few pictures are a few cards I made last month for the September 6th Hospice meeting. The next meeting will be November 1st (where has this year gone to???) I am still working on November's cards....have lots of Christmas cards made and will probably add the cards that I will get from the Secret Stamper Revealing Party on the 20th of this month.
Can you tell....I like this 3D Rose and Flowers embossing folder. The ideas are endless. The top card is embossed on black card stock and I smeared a gold substance on it, till I got the effect I wanted. The bottom card is embossed on plain gold card stock. The above card is a Thank You, below a Birthday. Two different cards, two different looks.
Below are some Veteran Cards I made. Always fun to make. We also made little favors that hold a piece of Hersey Chocolate. I thought I took a picture, but guess not.
The next two cards are my Butterfly cards. Pretty easy to make, as you can see. Just 2 die-cuts, a Thank You and some pearls to embellish the card.
This last card is a embossing folder with little butterflies enhancing the card along with a few gems.
Well, that's enough excitement for one post. The Hawks have 10 games yet this month...hope all goes well with them. The cookbook will be a success and I have lots of inspiration making some new cards for Hospice. Before you know it the snow will be falling.....not looking forward to that white stuff.
You all have a great week. See ya later. Keep looking up, better days are coming!!
Cheers ~ Louise
